Chapter 32
KENT
Iwent home and immediately felt off. My apartment was clean. Warm. But cold. It was so sterile. So, eh. It lacked life. And the city lights that I usually loved to stare at were too bright.
It was all too much.
I showered, ordered food, and pulled out my laptop.
The damn thing was a little dusty. It had been a long time since I did any real work.
I hoped I still remembered how to do business.
That was a testament to my lifestyle. I really had been enjoying the perks of the Bancroft name and the money that came with it.
I worked late into the night but felt good about my research. Hell, it felt good to use my head. The one on my shoulders.
The following morning, I strolled through the lobby of the building in Midtown Manhattan. I had pulled some strings and was going to be meeting with some property lawyers. I needed to really understand what the Northwood property was worth in terms of mineral rights acquisition.
By the time I left the meeting, my head was spinning.
The numbers were staggering. They were sitting on a fortune, enough oil reserves to justify an offer that would blow Sylvie’s mind and set her entire family up for multiple lifetimes.
So would the truth, if she ever learned it.
If she knew I had every intention of buying the lodge out from under her family, flattening everything she loved, and turning it into an industrial drilling operation for Bancroft family gain? She would never forgive me.
Hell, she would probably try to kill me with her bare hands and I wouldn’t blame her.
She would lose everything that mattered to her.
But maybe it would be a good thing in the long run.
Maybe it would be the push she needed to see the world beyond Northwood.
Australia might open her eyes to possibilities she’d been missing.
Emmy would certainly be glad to have her best friend along for the adventure.
No matter how I tried to justify it to myself, I knew exactly how fucked up it was that I was continuing to push this deal forward. I’d caught feelings for the person who was going to get hurt the most by what I was about to do, and I was doing it anyway.
I was an ass. Always had been, always would be. Sylvie deserved better than me, and the sooner she figured that out, the better off she’d be.
I had spent the last twenty-four hours putting together the most comprehensive property analysis I’d ever created in my life.
Property assessments, geological surveys, market analysis, legal precedents.
All of it. I covered every angle. The folder sitting on my passenger seat was thick with documentation that would prove to my father I hadn’t been screwing around upstate. Well, not entirely.
The drive out to the Bancroft estate gave me time to rehearse my pitch.
I knew exactly what my father would say the moment I walked through those doors.
He would assume I’d been distracted by some woman, and technically he wouldn’t be wrong.
But I’d also done the work—better work than I’d done on any deal in years.
The familiar wrought iron gates came into view. I felt that old tension settle between my shoulder blades. Coming home always felt like I was perpetually trying to prove myself worthy of the family name.
I pulled up the circular drive, noting that Isaac’s car was parked near the front entrance. Great. A family meeting. Nothing I loved more than having an audience for whatever lecture my father had planned.
The housekeeper greeted me at the door.
“Your father is waiting for you in his study,” she said, taking my coat. “Can I bring you anything?”
“No, thank you.”
I carried my laptop bag with the folder inside down the hall to the study. Dad was alone. Thank God because I wasn’t interested in having my brother offer his two cents. I loved him, but this was my thing.
“You’re back,” Dad said.
I sat down and opened the bag. “Miss me?”
“We’ll see,” he said, almost smiling. He was a real hard ass when it came to business. “What have you got for me on the Northwood deal?”
I put the folder on his desk. “It’s all there.”
He opened it and started to read. I leaned back, watching his expression.
I loved my dad. Loved my whole family. But they were a lot to handle.
A bunch of over-achievers. A few of my brothers could be a pain in the ass.
I could say that because I lived with them.
I was always one of the brothers that just kind of went along doing my own thing.
I didn’t mess with the family businesses.
They didn’t need me. I was just another voice with another opinion.
But this thing was mine whether I wanted it or not. Just a little proof I wasn’t a total screw-up. I didn’t want their jobs or to be like them, but it did feel good to show that I could contribute when they needed me to.
“Excellent work, Kent,” Dad said. “This is exactly what we needed.”
He set the papers down and looked at me with something that might have been pride. “All that’s left is closing the deal with the Northwoods. I want this wrapped up by Christmas Eve. After that, the offer expires, and we’ll only go seventy-five percent on a second attempt.”
Christmas Eve. Less than three weeks away. Three weeks to convince Sylvie and her family to sign away everything they’d ever known.
“Understood,” I said, because what else was there to say?
“What’s your take on the situation?” he asked.
“My take?”
“Are they going to jump at the offer or will there be trouble?”
“Trouble? As in they want to stay in their home and on their land? The property that’s been in their family for several generations? Or the businesses in town that support the townspeople? That place has more history in it than a history book.”
He gave me a curious look. “You don’t think they’ll sell?”
“I think it’s going to gut them.”
He nodded. “Money tends to be a balm for every wound.”
“I don’t think you understood just how deeply ingrained that place is in the very fiber of their beings.
It’s not a place. It’s their soul. Any one of them can give you a detailed history about the founder of Northwood.
His descendants have held on to that property for hundreds of years.
Trust me when I tell you they are as much a part of that land as the oil beneath it. ”
He stared at me for several long seconds before he got to his feet. “I’ll trust you to persuade them. Like I said, money is a powerful motivator. I have a feeling they’ll realize that once you present the number. Now, let’s go to dinner. Kathy has been in the kitchen for hours.”
We joined Kathy, Isaac, and Mina for dinner in the estate’s formal dining room.
It was a small family gathering by Bancroft standards—just immediate family, no business associates or social obligations.
Mina excused herself halfway through the main course to nurse baby Conrad, and Kathy bustled off to the kitchen to prepare the elaborate dessert she’d made from scratch.
Dad followed her, ostensibly to help but really to refill his wine glass and steal a few moments alone with his wife.
It was one of the things I’d always admired about their relationship.
They had always loved each other, but it wasn’t until the last couple of years they finally got to act on that love.
I supposed there was no expiration date on love.
They were going into their twilight years at each other’s side.
Good for them.
I was left alone at the table with Isaac, who was studying me with the kind of knowing smirk that made me want to punch him. Sometimes, I wished I didn’t have so many damn brothers. The more siblings, the more personalities to deal with.
“What?” I asked sharply.
Isaac held up his hands in mock surrender. “Don’t shoot the messenger, but somebody has to tell you.”
“Tell me what?”
“That you’ve got it bad.”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Love. Kent’s got a girl.” He said it in a sing-song voice like he used to when we were children.
“Fuck off,” I said automatically, but the words lacked conviction.
Isaac just laughed, clearly enjoying my discomfort.
“I know the signs, brother. I’ve been there.
The way you’ve been checking your phone all evening.
Or, I don’t know, the fact that you look like someone kicked your dog.
You’ve got the general air of a man who’s left his heart in some remote location. ”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t I? Because from where I’m sitting, it looks like Kent Bancroft has finally met someone who matters more than his trust fund.”
“You’re talking shit about something you know nothing about,” I said.
“Hudson told me you were up there with some girl.”
“Hudson doesn’t know shit either. You guys just run your mouths. Since you both got married, you act like a bunch of women gossiping at the country club.”
He laughed, clearly not bothered by my insult.
I was saved from having to explain Sylvie when Isaac switched gears.
“Have you heard the news about Austin?” he asked.
“What about him?” Austin was another brother who’d cut himself off from the family a few years ago after some kind of falling out with Dad. None of us knew the full details, but it had been ugly enough that Austin hadn’t spoken to any of us since.
“He’s going to be around for Christmas this year. First time in a long time.”
I scoffed. “Big deal. Austin’s an ass.”
Isaac shrugged. “True, but maybe he’s grown up in the last few years. People change.”
“Doubt it,” I said. “Leopards don’t change their spots, and Bancrofts don’t change their fundamental nature.”
Even as I said it, I wondered if I was talking about Austin or myself. Was I capable of changing? Of choosing something different than what I’d always been?
The thought was both terrifying and oddly appealing.
When Armand and Kathy returned with dessert, the conversation shifted to safer topics. Holiday plans, business updates, Mina’s adjustment to motherhood. Normal family dinner conversation that felt surreal given what I was planning to do in less than three weeks.
Later, as I was preparing to leave for my own apartment, Dad pulled me aside.
“I’m proud of the work you’ve done on this project, Kent,” he said. “You’ve shown real maturity and focus. This could be the beginning of you taking on more significant responsibilities within the family business.”
The approval I’d been craving my entire adult life should have felt satisfying. Instead, it just made the weight in my chest heavier.
“Thanks, Dad.”
“Don’t let me down,” he added, his hand on my shoulder. “This deal is important for more than just the money. It’s about proving that the Bancroft name still carries weight, that we can identify opportunity where others see only problems.”
I nodded and made the appropriate responses, but as I drove back to my penthouse, all I could think about was Sylvie’s face when she asked if I had to leave to get the offer.
In less than three weeks, I was going to have to look her in the eye and ask her to sign papers that would destroy everything she’d ever cared about.
And the worst part was, I was actually going to do it.